Bhubaneswar: There is a need to build up a 'people's movement' against the Government's policy of setting-up special economic zones, social activist and Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar said on Saturday.
"The multinational companies have turned resource-rich Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to a battleground to pursue their own agendas. As citizens of the country, we will not allow these big companies to trample us to achieve their objective," she said at a two-day summit on 'Globalisation and Fast Industrialisation versus Alternative Development Model' in Bhubaneswar.
SEZs would not benefit common people. "The policy was designed to help corporate houses become richer at the expense of the poor. The SEZs are not Special Economic Zones, rather
they are Special Exploitation Zones," she said.
The MNCs had discovered new ways to grab land from farmers and both the state and Central governments were "dancing to their tune", she claimed, coming down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and his deputy Jairam Ramesh.
Though the ministers are airing different views in public on SEZs, they are understood to have supported the policy, which was framed outside the country, the social activist alleged.
Social activists all over the country have been invited to chalk out a strategy to build up a movement against the "disastrous policies" emerging from globalisation at Gandhi Sangrahalaya in New Delhi on November 14 and 15, she said.
The two-day meet would discuss various aspects of the current industrialisation drive in Orissa, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. The social activists are likely to evolve an alternative development model for these resource-rich states.
Patkar said the activists must come out with concrete plans to prepare themselves for a long revolution.
"The conspiracies of multinational companies were more dangerous than any communal violence. The corporate houses are out to cleanse every poor person without considering their caste, creed and religion," she said.
Criticising the Left parties, she said though they have the power to impose their views on policies of the UPA Government, they have restrained themselves. "They have not done anything concrete to stop the mindless industrialisation," she said.
Earlier, former Lok Sabha speaker Rabi Ray said the influx of projects was not industrialisation.
"Rather it can be termed as de-industrialisation as the whole exercise is not going to generate enough employment which could ensure a sustainable livelihood for people," he said.
"The disturbing elements in the process are the union and state governments as they seem to be ever ready to carry out disastrous policies dictated by MNCs. There should not be any compromise on this front. People should be given liberty to decide judicious utilisation of the natural resources in the country," he said.
Patkar also met a group of people who had been sitting on a dharna for the past 19 days to protest South Korean steel major POSCO's mega steel plant in Orissa and reiterated her support to the cause.
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